Thursday, May 15, 2008

Sent today to their Press Office (press_office@west-midlands.police.uk) and cc'd to the head of department (a.l.telford@west-midlands.pnn.police.uk):

In your apology to the makers of this documentary, you wrote:

"A review of the evidence (including untransmitted footage and scripts) by Ofcom demonstrated that the programme had accurately represented the material it had gathered and dealt with the subject matter responsibly and in context.

We accept, without reservation, the conclusions of Ofcom."

The material collected by the programme, which you now accept was correct, included the following, in the assessment of The Times newspaper:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3934851.ece

"

— Whoever changes his religion from al-Islam to anything else — kill him in the Islamic state

— Take that homosexual and throw him off the mountain

— By the age of 10, it becomes an obligation on us to force her [young girls] to wear hijab, and if she doesn't wear hijab, we hit her

— Allah created the woman deficient

— If I were to call homosexuals perverted, dirty, filthy dogs who should be murdered, that is my freedom of speech, isn't it?

"

This includes clear incitement to murder, let alone hate. What action do you now propose to take against the subjects of this courageous documentary?

I am publishing this mail to you on my blog, and will publish your response, as this is a matter of public interest.

7 comments:

Peter, it also includes child abuse. If I (as the parent of a 10 year old) hit a child to force them to wear particular clothes against their will this would (and should) be reported to Social Services. If this is typical of their "parenting" (enforce demands using violence) then they should be taken into care.

Wyrd, deportation depends on the status of the individuals concerned, but any foreign national inciting murder should be deported, of course - as with any serious crime. Yes the mosque should be shut down - at the very least it should consent to open monitoring of the preaching. I'll follow that up as well.

Bodo, it's high time the individuals responsible were held to account.